The rise of online-only shops: customers lured by free returns and low prices

Shoppers are spending half the money they spend online with companies that exist purely on the internet, official data shows.

Stores with no permanent physical presence on the high street or out of town shopping parks, such as Asos and Amazon, took nearly 50p in every £1 spent with online retailers in 2015, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

This is up by nearly a quarter since 2010, when 41p of every £1 via the internet was spent in "online only" shops.

Retail experts said the rise was partly due to shoppers overcoming the problems associated with online buying, such as not being able to touch or try on items, by taking their smartphones into high street shops to assess items and then finding a better deal online.

For the first time consumers said they bought more of their purchases on the web than in stores, according to an annual survey of more than 5,000 online shoppers by United Parcel Service Inc.

Shoppers now make 51pc of their purchases on the web, up from 48pc in 2015 and 47pc in 2014, according to the survey, which polled shoppers who make at least two online purchases in a three-month period, excluding groceries.

Despite the trend towards online shopping the data also shows 88pc of all shopping in Great Britain is still done in physical stores, suggesting that the British public are not ready to move to an exclusively online shopping experience.

The rapid adoption of smartphones, electronic payment technology and shopping apps are also causing the amount of money spent on online to accelerate.

This year 44pc of smartphone users said they made at least one purchase from their device, up from 41pc a year ago.

Experts said online shopping is becoming more popular as online retailers make the returns process easier and cheaper, for example by letting customers pick up items from local convenience stores rather than being delivered to their homes.

Returns are particularly crucial for online retailers as shoppers are unable to feel or try on items, meaning they are more likely to opt for a refund.

The returns process in the fashion industry is known as "reverse logistics" and cost UK shops a total of £95.8m in 2013, according to Columino, a retail analyst.

This cost is expected to have risen considerably since then as a surge in smartphone usage has led to shoppers making more impulse purchases and online shops invest more in making returns easier and cheaper for customers.

Nick Carroll, retail analyst, at Mintel, said: "Online only shops are on the rise for a number of reasons including smartphone use and greater investment in the returns process. There is still an element of skepticism around not being able to touch or try items bought online, but we are seeing a big increase in people wondering around high street shops with their phones so they can see items and then find a better deal online."

A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK shops, said: “Retailers no longer consider bricks and mortar and online as two separate channels — they must offer both — but the economics of physical retail must add up. Retailers continuous reviews of costs of operating have and will continue to impact on where businesses choose to invest and employ local people”.